MEERUT: Prashant Bishnoi, a national-level shooter who had been running an international arms and wildlife parts smuggling operation, was found dead in a road accident on Tuesday night. Bishnoi, 45, had been arrested in 2017 by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Meerut forest department after a massive haul of unlicensed weapons and wildlife parts were found at his house.

That included 44 firearms, 50,000 cartridges, 117kg animal meat, and skins of deer and black buck. Cash amounting to nearly a crore and nine high-end cameras had also been seized at the time. He was arrested in June that year and had been in and out of jail since. Later, he had confessed to using the fact that he was a professional shooter to smuggle arms into the country.

On Tuesday night, around 10.30pm, Prashant is believed to have been speeding along the Rohta Road in an SUV, which lost control. He was alone. “It turned turtle and fell into a gorge. He was speeding and probably under the influence of alcohol,” SHO of Rohta police station Upender Singh said. It was a 20-foot drop. The car was mangled and he was seriously injured.

Police were on a regular patrol when they saw the car. They got him out and took him to two private hospitals, but he had died by then. With documents found in the car, he was identified as Prashant Bishnoi. Prashant’s father, Devendra Kumar, a former Army colonel, had fought the 1971 War and been a part of Operation Blue Star in 1984. He had later resigned from the Army and worked for 12 years in UP state services, from which he retired. The raids that led to Prashant’s arrest had been at his house.

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

₹ 10 - ₹ 1000

NYOOOZ FRIEND

₹ 2000 - ₹ 5000

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.